World’s Best Comedians Who Are Making a Change

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Liveinstyle
24 Sep, 20150 Shares

The traditional perception of a comedian is that of someone who takes the audience away from the everyday troubles of life for a couple of hours. But then again, throughout history and to this very day there have been some brilliant and bold comedic minds who’ve tickled our funny bones while at the same time used their wit, sarcasm and jokes to provoke a discussion in society to bring about social change.

With people clamouring for equality in all arenas in today’s day and age, Amy Schumer’s hilarious and smart satire takes aim at issues like equal pay, gender inequality, sexual double standards, and sexist stereotypes. Through her stand-up and her Emmy-winning sketch show ‘Inside Amy Schumer’, Amy seems to have found a perfect mantra of portraying situations and ordeals from a unique female perspective, getting enough people give a damn about women’s issues without rubbing it in their faces. (Unless it elicits a laugh, of course).

-------------------------------------------------Richard Pryor Took On Racism

In the late 60’s when America was still very racially divided, Richard Pryor emerged as a bold comedian who spoke on stage about racism and being black like it had never been done in mainstream media before. The fearlessness and hilarity with which Pryor’s comedy material dealt with race relations changed the face of comedy and indeed American pop culture in general. Such was the degree of Pryor’s success that he eventually crossed over to a white audience and pretty soon the crowds at his sold-out shows would be a mix of black and white audiences sitting right next to each other while watching Pryor talk about racial injustice. Pryor was widely credited as well as criticized for the heavy use of profanity, especially the N-word in his material, although according to Pryor himself adopting to use the N-word gave him a license to make fun of everyone from poor blacks to rich whites depending upon the context in which it was used.

Jon Oliver’s news based comedy show ‘Last Week Tonight’ has been compared with many ‘real’ news shows for the amount of detailing, research and investigation that goes into the issues featured on the show. The format follows Jon Oliver exposing some hard truths about an issue while at the same time ensuing a barrage of jokes. In September of 2014 Oliver picked apart the financial discrepancies of the Miss America pageant, challenging its claim of doling out $45 million in scholarship dollars every year. Though he maintained that the Miss America Organization was the largest provider of scholarships for women in the world, he directed viewers to donate to other groups which were more deserving, like the Society of Women Engineers. The engineering organization racked up thousands of dollars in donations in a few days following the segment.

--------------------------------------------------Tina Fey’s Take Down Of Sarah Palin On SNL

In the lead up to the 2008 US Presidential election, John McCain surprised many by announcing the extreme right-wing Alaska governor Sarah Palin as his running mate for Vice President. Although Palin’s lack of experience and general knowledge was known amongst political pundits, it didn’t come to the forefront until actress and comedian Tina Fey started parodying her in various sketches at Saturday Night Live. Thanks to Fey’s striking resemblance to Palin and near perfect imitation of her mannerisms and accent she was an instant hit. Perhaps the final nail in the coffin was when in an interview sketch Fey began quoting the real Palin’s answers verbatim from an actual interview proving the ambiguous nature of her answers. The parody is believed to have played a part in driving the electorate away from McCain’s party.

World’s Best Comedians Who Are Making a Change

LiveinstyleLiveinstyleSeptember 24, 2015

The traditional perception of a comedian is that of someone who takes the audience away from the everyday troubles of life for a couple of hours. But then again, throughout history and to this very day there have been some brilliant and bold comedic minds who’ve tickled our funny bones while at the same time used their wit, sarcasm and jokes to provoke a discussion in society to bring about social change.

With people clamouring for equality in all arenas in today’s day and age, Amy Schumer’s hilarious and smart satire takes aim at issues like equal pay, gender inequality, sexual double standards, and sexist stereotypes. Through her stand-up and her Emmy-winning sketch show ‘Inside Amy Schumer’, Amy seems to have found a perfect mantra of portraying situations and ordeals from a unique female perspective, getting enough people give a damn about women’s issues without rubbing it in their faces. (Unless it elicits a laugh, of course).

-------------------------------------------------Richard Pryor Took On Racism

In the late 60’s when America was still very racially divided, Richard Pryor emerged as a bold comedian who spoke on stage about racism and being black like it had never been done in mainstream media before. The fearlessness and hilarity with which Pryor’s comedy material dealt with race relations changed the face of comedy and indeed American pop culture in general. Such was the degree of Pryor’s success that he eventually crossed over to a white audience and pretty soon the crowds at his sold-out shows would be a mix of black and white audiences sitting right next to each other while watching Pryor talk about racial injustice. Pryor was widely credited as well as criticized for the heavy use of profanity, especially the N-word in his material, although according to Pryor himself adopting to use the N-word gave him a license to make fun of everyone from poor blacks to rich whites depending upon the context in which it was used.

Jon Oliver’s news based comedy show ‘Last Week Tonight’ has been compared with many ‘real’ news shows for the amount of detailing, research and investigation that goes into the issues featured on the show. The format follows Jon Oliver exposing some hard truths about an issue while at the same time ensuing a barrage of jokes. In September of 2014 Oliver picked apart the financial discrepancies of the Miss America pageant, challenging its claim of doling out $45 million in scholarship dollars every year. Though he maintained that the Miss America Organization was the largest provider of scholarships for women in the world, he directed viewers to donate to other groups which were more deserving, like the Society of Women Engineers. The engineering organization racked up thousands of dollars in donations in a few days following the segment.

--------------------------------------------------Tina Fey’s Take Down Of Sarah Palin On SNL

In the lead up to the 2008 US Presidential election, John McCain surprised many by announcing the extreme right-wing Alaska governor Sarah Palin as his running mate for Vice President. Although Palin’s lack of experience and general knowledge was known amongst political pundits, it didn’t come to the forefront until actress and comedian Tina Fey started parodying her in various sketches at Saturday Night Live. Thanks to Fey’s striking resemblance to Palin and near perfect imitation of her mannerisms and accent she was an instant hit. Perhaps the final nail in the coffin was when in an interview sketch Fey began quoting the real Palin’s answers verbatim from an actual interview proving the ambiguous nature of her answers. The parody is believed to have played a part in driving the electorate away from McCain’s party.